Saturday, November 10, 2007

It's a Sam Cooke song!

Lately there have been some kind people posting Amy Winehouse's cover of Cupid which is from the BBC Radio 1 website. It's been attributed to Johnny Nash by some and The Supremes by others, and while both have performed the song during their respective careers, the true original writer and performer of the tune is Sam Cooke.

Sam was INCREDIBLY important in the acceptance and integration of Aframerican music into pop culture in the 50's and 60's as well as bridging the gap between black and white audiences as well as young and old. If you're not familiar with his story, he deserves your respect. Start here.

If you have a different cover of this song, feel free to send it my way and I'll add it below.

While it definitely is a Sam Cooke Song, the version that Winehouse's cover references is the Johnny Nash version done in the early 70s. Nash also covered Bob Marley's "Stir it Up" around the same time, shortly before his biggest success with "I Can See Clearly Now."